College football weekend observations

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

pic: the Big Lead

So where do we stand in our quest for chaos? We have one less undefeated team now (thanks Penn State) so the BCS no longer has to sweat the possibility of an undefeated Joe Paterno being left out. Texas Tech amazingly keeps winning, although their road is just now getting difficult. And at the end of all of that, the best teams in the nation, in my opinion anyway, are the one-loss teams. Tech and Alabama are great, and continue to impress with big wins, but I think the best teams in the nation are the teams that occupy the slots in the BCS just below them.

- I'm going to keep doubting Texas Tech, and their going to keep proving me wrong. That was an absolute drubbing in Lubbock on Saturday night. Oklahoma State is a very good team and Tech just flat out embarrassed them.

- I also have to eat some humble pie on my Penn State-Iowa prediction. I was sure that a Penn State team, with its BCS title destiny in its own hands, and a two-score lead in the 4th quarter, would be able to finish better than that. Not to take anything away from Iowa, who pulled off a big win when I didn't think they could, but that was a choke.

- If you were like me, and had Alabama-3.5 on Saturday, then you experienced an emotional roller-coaster that ended with the classic "miracle cover." If you missed the final minutes, John Parker Wilson had a spectacular TD run that would have sealed the victory called back because of a holding penalty. Later, with the game tied at 21, Alabama lined up for what would have been the game-winning FG (but would've cost us our bets). Somehow, the kick was blocked, sending the game to overtime. With the first possession, LSU turned the ball over on an interception. Once again, it looked like those of us giving the 3.5 were going to be losers, as we thought 'bama would surely just set up a FG and take the win. Wrong. They moved the ball all the way down to the one yard line and JPW scored on a QB sneak to seal the victory, and more importantly, the cover. 27-21 Alabama. Degenerate gambling: its fannnnntastic!

- Honestly, what the hell is with Georgia? The preseason #1 team in the land has now been blown out by Florida and Alabama, and needed to hang on for dear life to beat Kentucky.

- The two best teams in the nation right now, Florida and Oklahoma, are still on the outside-looking-in in terms of the BCS title game.

- Nice win by the Beavers! I'm pulling for an Oregon State-Michigan State Rose Bowl matchup.

- Don't look now, but Florida State and Pitt both had solid wins on Saturday and are turning into good football teams.

- The season seriously cannot end soon enough for fans of The University of Tennessee. The reeling Vols lost Saturday at home to Wyoming. That's right, Wyoming. Tennessee is an SEC team for crying out loud. Wyoming is 1-5 in the Mountain West Conference and they just walked into Knoxville and beat the Volunteers. Its difficult to defend Phil Fullmer when his team loses at home to a team that is not competitive in the MWC.

- Congratulations to the Washington State Cougars. No, they didn't win. Of course they didn't. I'm congratulating them for finally beating a spread. The Cougs, 41 point underdogs to Arizona, lost 59-28 on Saturday. They had not scored more than 14 points since beating 1-AA Portland State on September 20(!!), and this week they exploded to only lose by 31. I'm surprised the fans didn't storm the field and tear down the goalposts.